Aya had always known the day would come when she Eve would leave her and go off to college, but it'd still struck her as a shock when that day finally arrived. She'd been a nervous wreck as she and Eve got all of Eve's stuff loaded into the car, but she'd been trying not to let it out. Eve was excited about heading off to college, a school that wasn't all that far from where she and Aya lived. Just far enough to give Eve a little independence without being so far away that Aya couldn't get to her quickly if something went wrong. Two and a half hours, three at the absolute most. Or if you drove like Aya tended to drive when she was worried, an hour and forty-five minutes.

"Well, here we go," Eve said as she got into the car and tugged the door shut. "Off we go. You nervous?"

"Nope!" Eve chirped with a grin. She'd grown into an exuberant young woman with a vibrant, bubbly personality. This was everything that Aya could have ever hoped for for the young woman, given Eve's troubled and traumatic start and the first few years of her life.

"Oh, so you want to get away from me, is it?" Aya teased as she backed the car down the driveway. "Real nice way to make your sister feel, you know?"

"That's not it, Aya!" Eve cried, looking stricken at the thought that Aya thought she was being left behind. "You know I love you. I just wanna get out on my own now, see more of the world. Even if that world is just a school a couple hours away."

"I know, I know," Aya assured her quickly. "I was just teasing you. My last chance to do so for a while, you know, what with you being so far away." She grinned. "Okay, okay. I promise. No more giving you grief like that."

"It's so not your last chance," Eve protested with a grin. "I mean, there's a reason we're Facebook friends and it's not for me to feed your ridiculous addiction to apps."

"You'll get me to school, settle me in, go home, and play Cafe World for six hours." At her sister's glare, Eve amended, "Okay, maybe not six hours. But still. You'll go home and start doing your normal routine again. It's not the end of the world."

"A teenager not acting like something's the end of the world?" Aya glanced over quickly. "Whatever is this world coming to?" She laughed softly and shook her head. "When did you get so wise?"

"Oh, so now I'm wise? Usually you're calling a smart-ass."

"That's when you've been hanging out with Pierce and Kyle too much," Aya retorted. "By the way, Kyle's got your cell number and the number for your dorm. Make sure you call him when you get settled or else he's going to be calling you and that won't be pretty."

Kyle Madigan was kind of a jackass, but he was their jackass. He was also Aya's on-again, off-again boyfriend and the closest thing Eve had to a father. As such, he had the right to get overprotective of the girl. Though, Kyle being Kyle, he'd get overprotective even if he ididn't/i have the right. Again, it was just how he was.

"I will, don't worry," Eve said. "And I'll be sure to get his number and address, too, just so all the bases are covered."

"Good." Aya had taught her sister well. And as far as Aya was concerned, Eve was her sister in all ways except biological and even that was only because their biological connection was too confusing and complicated to explain in such a simple fashion. "Now, since this is your trip, you get control of the radio."

"Oh, excellent!" Eve leaned forward to fiddle with the radio.

Two minutes later, Aya was regretting that particular pronouncement.

*****

A two-and-a-half hour drive had gotten them to Eve's school, and another three hours had gotten them through the insanity that was finding her dorm and getting everything unloaded from the car. As such, there was now a gigantic mess of boxes all over one half of the room -- the other half was neater, but only marginally. Aya wondered how either girl would ever be able to find anything later on given their apparent housekeeping skills, but since the two girls had bonded and were currently chattering away like they'd known each other for years, Aya was loathe to interrupt.

Besides, she couldn't start nagging right away. That wasn't very fair. She'd catch Eve later online.

"Well, okay, you two," Aya said, clapping her hands sharply to catch their attention. "Someone want to walk me out to my car?"

Eve tore herself away from bonding with her new roommate and headed for the door. "Good thing I don't have a car yet," she said as they walked down the hall and towards the stairs. "I'd get lost on the way to the parking lot."

"No, you wouldn't," Aya said with a laugh, wrapping an arm around Eve's shoulders. "You'd do fine. Just like you're going to do fine at everything else."

"I know," Eve said quietly. "I know."

"Hey," Aya said just as quietly. "You're scared. I know this. But remember, I'm never more than a phone call or an email or an instant message or a text message away. You've got more ways to reach me than you could shake a stick at. And you can always call me, no matter what. And no matter what it's about. Don't feel anything's too silly to call me about, and no matter what time."

"I know," Eve said again, though a little more confidently.

Five minutes later, they were at the car. Eve threw herself at Aya, clinging. "I'm scared," she whispered. "I'm really scared."

"I know, baby girl," Aya said. "I know. But you'll be fine."

Eve clung to Aya for another couple minutes before pulling back. "I should let you get going," she said, a teasing grin on her face. "After all, you've got to get home. Don't you have a date with Kyle tonight?"

"I'd hardly call it a date!" Aya said, laughing as she opened the driver's side door. "It's just dinner."

"We all know how dinner goes for you two. Always."

It was on that teasing note that the two women parted, Eve going back into the building and the start of her new life, and Aya going home to her old one.

Not a bad way for the afternoon to end.

___DISCLAIMER: Aya and Eve belong to the minds behind Parasite Eve. No profit is being made.

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